A Night at Zoku, Amsterdam

I have a confession. . . . I am a nomadaholic. I get such a rush from hopping on a plane, traveling to a new destination, and exploring the unknown. Put simply, I am addicted to travel, and I have built my life around this passion – I work at Booking.com as a Brand Communications Manager, where I spend my days creating travel ads and content. I live in Amsterdam, a hub for European exploration. I write for multiple travel publications around the web, sharing city tips and helping others plan their adventures. And of course, I love spending time writing here, at Amsterdam & Beyond, my beloved travel journal :) Because of my passion and lifestyle, I can usually be found boarding a plane at least once or twice a month, whether I’m traveling for work or for leisure. I’ve flown with dozens of airliners, and have stayed at hundreds of hotels (part and parcel of the job!) But recently I stayed at a new kind of hotel, one I had not come accross in my adventures before.

Zoku is located in the heart of Amsterdam’s historic eastern Canal District, on the Weesperstraat (very close to the Amstel). While most hotel rooms are built for sleeping, Zoku’s loft designs shift the focus from the bed to the living space, with a four­ person table that can be used to work, dine, entertain, or just hang out. As a business traveler, this is a dream come true! No more awkward, cramped, late-night meetings around a bed! As a travel writer and marketer, I was invited to spend a night at Zoku ahead of their grand opening, along with a few friends.

We were excited to find that Zoku’s Loft features a fully equipped kitchen, customizable art work, office supplies, and an elevated, loft­-style sleeping space that is accessible by a retractable staircase!Upstairs, Zoku’s kitchen serves locally sourced food from their rooftop garden and greenhouse.We stayed at Zoku on a warm summer evening, and enjoyed dinner outside on the terrace, which offered beautiful views of Amsterdam, especially at sunset.Dinner was served family-style, and was wholesome and fresh. Inside, Zoku offers diverse social areas that encourage interaction between Zoku’s hotel guests (or residents, as Zoku is also designed for comfortable, longer stays). Their also have musical instruments, which made our bozzy evening a melodic adventure ;)After a great night’s sleep in our lofted bed (definitely brought back some childhood bunkbed memories!) we headed back upstairs to the large, social kitchen for breakfast. Menu options were wholesome and delicious, and consisted of a yogurt dish, a smoothie bowl, a daily sweet dish (toasted banana bread!), a daily egg dish (poached eggs), and a juice of the day.I opted for a vegetarian egg dish, which was two poached eggs, brown bread, a big fried portobello mushroom, and half an avocado. After a well balanced breakfast, we sipped coffee in Zoku’s social space, enjoying the city views and the beautiful furnishings before heading out to work for the day.A one ­night stay in a Zoku Loft starts from €150 per night, however, the longer you stay, the less you will pay! You can check Zoku out on Booking.com here (have to add in that shameless work plug!)

4 Replies to “A Night at Zoku, Amsterdam”

For work I’ve been overseeing Booking.com content creation for The Knot, CN Traveler, Buzzfeed, and Afar. If you want to check it out, here’s a hub of all the content I’ve lead for CN Traveler: http://www.cntraveler.com/reports/best-summer-travel Outside of work I’m also writing for an expat website called ExpatGoGo. As of now, only their Singapore site is live, but when the Amsterdam site launches I will share the link and you can check out all of the Amsterdam articles I’ve written :)

Hello Ali, nice blogs you write! I know you work at booking.com and I think there are quite a few people from different countries. I am the owner of a real estate agency where we help many expats with a rental property in Amsterdam. We often find a suitable home within 2 weeks. If someone is looking for a reliable broker at Booking, you can always recommend my company http://www.expatrentalscout.com. Above all, keep going with what you do because I love it.